The Legend of Zelda: Gates to the Outside
by Writer of Hyrule
Summary: 3 boys have lived in Hyrule all of their lives, and now, they long to escape. Their only way out is to follow a hero's footsteps into the darkest depths of Hyrlue, revisiting each temple. Will they take this chance? Set in the Ocarina of Time era.
1. Chapter 1

Josh awoke with a start. A cucco crowed loudly as the giant fruit-of-a-sun jabbed its warm rays through the dusty bedroom window. The boy sat up, stretched, gave a loud yawn, and set his feet on the cold floor. Another routine day in Hyrule. _Oh joy,_ he thought. He pulled on his ranch clothes and his heavy boots, still trying to shake off the grip of early morning laziness. He slowly stood and strode over to the tall oval-shaped mirror in its neat little wooden frame next to the door.

"Perfect," he said quietly to himself. His ranch clothes consisted of normal blue pants, a black T-shirt, his dark brown gauntlets, and his monstrous rancher boots. The boots were rugged, durable, and more than heavy duty. The only problem with them, as Scott would say, was that they were "heavier than Iron Knuckle Axes." Josh agreed, but he didn't think the boots were all that bad. After all, some families in Hyrule couldn't afford anything to protect their feet.

_Families… _Josh thought. For a moment, he had that feeling again; the one he always felt when seeing young children with their mothers and fathers at the market. He wished he knew what that was like. The only family that he really had was Scott and Randy, who had been with him since not long after his birth.

Shortly after the Hero of Time defeated the Evil King (as the story had been told many times to visitors of the ranch), three baby boys were found at the gate of Hyrule castle. On his usual milk delivery, Talon, the owner of Lon Lon Ranch, came across these three little crying bundles. From the moment he laid eyes on them, he knew that he could never, not in a million years let these babies be taken by anyone else. With the help of his daughter Malon, Talon raised the boys and gave them their names. As the boys grew up, it became evident that the youngest, Josh, seemed to be the leader of the three. It was also obvious that the two others (who were clearly about a year older than the youngest), were identical twins. The only difference was that one, Randy, had jet black hair, and the other, Scott, a dirty blonde color. When the boys became of age, Talon taught them the ways of the ranch. He taught them to ride horses, to milk the cows, feed the cuccos, clean the stables (their least favorite job) and, of course, to be good men. When the boys entered their teenage years, Malon moved out of the ranch house and into a small apartment in the back alley of the Castle Town market. With Malon out of the house, the boys had plenty of room and could talk about essentially whatever they wanted, without the fear of a girl hearing them. They continued their daily routine of chores, chores, take milk to the castle, and more chores. On the days where they got done early, the boys would sometimes venture down to the lake or to Death Mountain, where they had become good friends with Biggoron. Although Biggoron couldn't move much, he loved the company of the boys, and sometimes they would take him some fresh milk, which was his "absoluuuuute favorrrrite," as he put it. But now, Josh, roughly 17 years old (not knowing the exact day he was born), and the twins roughly 18, had all but become men, and damn good ones at that.

Josh sighed happily, a smile playing at the corner of his lips as he thought of that story that Talon had told countless times, never changing it one bit. _What a life,_ he thought.

Josh knew that he had had a great life considering how he was left by his true parents, who could be anywhere by now. His only wish was for _more. _To know more. To see the world. There had to be more than just Hyrule, and Josh, Scott, and Randy needed some way, some reason, and somebody to show them the way. Josh shook his head quickly, breaking out of his daze. He made sure his short, crudely cut hair was down and smooth, and half-jogged out of his bedroom and downstairs, ready to head outside where Scott, Randy, and Talon were sure to be waiting for him.


	2. Chapter 2

Stepping into the morning, Josh closed the door behind him and immediately had to hold his hand up over his eyes as a visor. He still wasn't fully awake, and the sun beams hurt his eyes and forced him to continually blink and squint. He turned left and began walking toward the racetrack. Finally getting used to the brightness, he stepped into the open area just on the edge of the dirt track. There was no one in sight.

"Talon?" he said loudly. "Scott? Randy?" No reply. He stood still and quieted his breathing, listening for anything to give him a hint as to where they all were. _This is strange… _He thought. _They should all be out here with the horses. _And that was another thing: Why weren't the horses out? Warily, Josh turned around and headed for the stables.

Upon entering the stables, Josh saw that all of the horses were there. And still no Talon, Scott, or Randy. He climbed the ladder in the middle which led up to where Scott and Randy's beds were kept, and… nobody there. All of the blankets lay in heaping piles around their small beds. Now Josh began to worry. _What if some evil creature took them all straight out of their beds…? A Re-Dead, for instance. Or maybe even a Stalfos…. Maybe they were taken by a Stalfos! _Josh's mind continued to race, no matter how childish he knew he was being. Then, one relieving thought came to him: _Milk! They probably just took milk to the castle, like Talon does every day! They saw that I was still asleep, and they didn't want to wake me. That's all. And Talon doesn't always take a horse when we go with him. Talon, Scott, and Randy are perfectly capable of carrying milk to the castle without a horse. Yeah, that's it. Just on a milk delivery._

As Josh continued to calm himself with this thought, he closed the door on his way out of the stables and took a left, walking down the natural grass and dirt "ramp" that pointed the way out of Lon Lon Ranch.

As Josh emerged into the field, he felt a warm summer breeze envelop him. It was a nice day for a walk. He strode purposefully toward the castle, and upon reaching the drawbridge, Josh noticed something in the moat: It glinted in the sun, along with the sun's reflection on the clear blue water. Josh lowered himself to his stomach and slowly dipped his hand in. He felt the object and knew immediately what it was. He stood up and nodded in approval, pocketing the shiny red rupee. He hadn't needed much money before, and over the years he had found plenty of rupees in the grass. This red one made a total of 420, which made Josh happy, as he had almost filled his wallet.

Focusing now on the matter at hand, Josh ran toward the market, his heavy boots clunking on the drawbridge and his wallet jingling.

A surprising sight presented itself to Josh as he entered the noisy market: More than 50 people were crowding around somebody that was standing in the middle of the market square. Looking around, Josh saw Scott, Randy, and Talon on the left side of the circle of people. He approached them and kicked Randy's shoe to get his attention.

"Hey, watch-…! Oh, Josh. Nice to see that you finally woke up!"

Josh brushed off Randy's sarcasm and greeted Talon.

"Talon, what's going on?" he asked, trying to make himself taller to see over the crowd. He spotted the milk containers behind Talon.

"Well," Talon replied, "it seems that Castle Town has been invaded by some… outlandish creatures." Talon looked uneasily from Randy to Josh.

"And the townspeople are a little more than terrified," Scott added, pushing his hair out of his face.

"Well, who are they crowding around?" Josh asked loudly, more to himself than anyone else as he jumped in an attempt to see over the heads of the many frantic Market-goers.

"Not just _who _they're crowding around. But to answer that, it's The Hero of Time and Queen Zelda. _What _they're crowding around is some gaping hole right in the middle of town," Randy replied coolly.

"How long have you been here?" Josh asked Talon, on the verge of shouting as the townsfolk became louder.

"Only came in about 10 minutes before you," Talon shouted back, the noise level becoming unbearable. Just when Josh thought he could handle no more, there was a bright flash, and the people began to quiet down. The silence came so quickly and abruptly that it was almost haunting. As if in fear, they all began to fan out, to spread out and make room for everybody in the market to see the middle, forming a large circle around the market square. Taking his place next to Randy, Josh gazed in awe at The Hero of Time. The Legendary Hero, Link, had his hand up backwards in front of his chin, his fingers spread apart, the back of his hand burning with the power of the Goddesses… The Triforce of Courage. Queen Zelda had her hand up as well, the Triforce of Wisdom brightly shining out at the crowd. There was a massive hole behind them, taking up nearly the entire center square. It was clear that the ground had been broken from below, with pieces of white brick jutting upward at an angle. The Hero of Time, s hand fall casually to his side, spoke.

"I know that you are all afraid. I know that you fear that they will come back. They have destroyed our market and have frightened all of us. These creatures, these… Evil beings, are not from this land. It is unknown where they came from, but all we know for sure is that they came from outside of Hyrule. However, it is the duty of myself and the Soldiers of Hyrule to protect the people," There was a loud, synchronized clank behind us and to the right as a large group of

soldiers thrust their hands to their foreheads in a majestic salute. "Now please, all of you. The market can wait. Go on home, get some rest. I will take care of things here."

"But what if they come back down here?" An elderly woman with a large bag over her shoulder shouted.

"Back down here?" Link asked, scratching his head.

"Yeah!" The big burly man from the bazaar shouted gruffly, "The flew away, ya know!"

"Look, everybody just go home. I will get to the bottom of this, and things will be back to normal in no time," Link said hesitantly.

"Please, all of you, listen to him. We will take care of this," Zelda added reassuringly.

Grumbling, the townspeople shuffled away, either to an alley or to their shops. Josh, Scott, Randy, and Talon stood still, watching everybody leave the area. When they were all gone, Talon took a step forward.

"Sir and Ma'am, should I take the milk to the castle?" he asked quickly.

"That will be fine, Talon. Thank you," Zelda replied kindly. Talon grabbed two of the containers, which looked a little heavy for him, and left the remaining two there while he began to make his way to the castle.

"We'll help you, Talon," Josh said proudly, jogging over to the other milk containers.

"Wait!" Talon whispered sharply. "Let me get these. This is your chance, boy. Take the twins with you, and go talk to Link and Zelda. There is no way that they will be able to leave Hyrule to stop these creatures. Neither will the soldiers. I know you haven't been trained much in the art of combat, but… maybe they'll train you or somethin'. Present yourself well; this may be your one and only chance to find the way out, and find your parents, just like you've always wanted…" Talon looked at Josh squarely, a tear in his eye, "Now go." Josh, Scott, and Randy walked back toward the Market square as Talon made his way over the hill and toward the castle.


End file.
